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Freya Gamble

Freya works in needlefelt and mixed media, combining her felted animal sculptures with fabric, paper and found materials to create delicate and tactile scenes inspired by the natural world.  A fascination with nature often leads her down different creative paths; most recently, bioprinting textiles. 

"My mum taught me to sew, helping my sister and I make simple clothes for our toys from scraps, and teaching us embroidery stitches; she kept a well stocked craft cupboard and we were always encouraged to be creative.  I tried making my own clothes as a teenager, but was never any good at following patterns, and turned my hand to more freestyle work, creating Hobby Animals and 'Marine Mobiles' [sewn sea creatures suspended from driftwood] from remnants of cloth.  I kept experimenting with different textile techniques, including relief printing and batik, but when I first tried needle-felting, it felt like something clicked.
​"Needle-felting allows me to start with a basic shape and gradually build on it, making adjustments as I go; it's quite forgiving!  I always start by studying the animal, looking at photographs and drawings: making sketches helps me to notice details and pay attention to proportions.  I usually start with a wire armature, some of which is based on the animal's skeleton; this also supports any significant protrusions, like the hare's ears.  This frame sets the scale of the model and as wool is felted around the wire, the animal gradually takes shape; its a lovely experience, watching the character emerge in my hands.

​"When I started, my style was a bit too 'cute' and I still might tend towards slightly over-sized features, but I aim to capture a sense of the wild animal, its energy or attitude.  I combine the animals with natural or found materials, since wild animals deserve to live in their preferred habitat!"


Commissions considered - please get in touch using the contact form below
Dormouse Hibernating - SOLD
Running Wild - SOLD (Similar coming soon)
Bird's Eye View - Red Kite

Barn Owl - made for commission
Curious Cats Bookends £120
'Heinz' the Tabby Bengal - made for commission
Family of red deer (unfinished)
Gecko (embroidered) -SOLD-
Rainbow Gecko (embroidered) -SOLD-

Bioprinting textiles

Picture
I recently discovered bioprinting, and have been exploring the colours and shapes that I can achieve with different leaves, before the autumn takes them!  I mostly print onto habutai silk, but also experiment with cottons, printing onto second hand garments that I come across in my frequent charity shop visits.  Each print is unique, as there are so many variables at play: not only the species and arrangement of leaves, but the concentrations I use during mordanting, the time spent steaming, the maturity of the leaf... all create different results.

    Contact Freya

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12 Church Street
Kington
Herefordshire
​HR5 3AZ

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  • Home
  • OUR ARTISTS
    • Resident Artists
    • Featured Artist >
      • Richard Bavin - Featured Artist
      • Rachel Ricketts - Featured Artist
    • Artist Archive >
      • Visual Archive
      • Archive by Name
  • Events & Exhibitions
    • Programme of Events 2023
    • Exhibitions, Present & Past >
      • Industrial Pastorale
      • Three of a Kind
      • Treasure Town 2021
      • Walkers are Welcome
      • BIG DRAW 2021
      • h.Art 2021
      • Into the Midsummer Meadows 2021
      • Small Wonders 2021
      • Home Grown 2021 >
        • Robert Kilvert
      • Stirrings of Spring 2021
      • Previous years' exhibitions >
        • Box of Delights 2020
        • Land Into Art 2020 >
          • Exhibition Artists
          • The Project
          • The Walker
          • Hergest Croft Gardens
        • SPICE 2020
        • Small is Beautiful 2020
    • Demos/Workshops
  • Contact